Full-court, intense, in-your-face, defensive pressure can eventually wear down teams to the point of defeat. Pocono Mountain West's style of defense can best exemplify this manner of winning games, as last night's Mountain Valley Conference game serves as proof.

The Panthers (13-4, 7-2), enforced their pressure and manufactured turnovers from Pleasant Valley, and eventually prevailed, 62-54. Some timely foul shooting down the stretch prevented a furious Bear comeback, as well, to help the winners improve their chances of getting the highest seed in their league tournament."It definitely wasn't easy and they're such a well-coached team that's fighting for their lives," West head coach Brad Pensyl mentioned. "This was a 'grind 'em out' win and we'll take it."An 11-0 run by the Panthers in the first half of the second quarter helped Pocono West turn a 15-9 lead into a 26-9 swell, before the Bears responded with a run of their own before halftime. At the intermission, the Panthers were up 32-20 and looked to be on their way to a win.Midway through the final frame, West held a 52-41 edge after a Sean Cooper jumper from the baseline, before the locals made their last surge.Nyeim Nevarez began with a drive down the lane and teammate Lance Robinson ensued with a free throw and one of his game-high six three-pointers to make it 52-47 with 2:21 remaining.After Joe Wiggins nailed a pair of charity tosses, Robinson stepped up with another three and Zach Deegan's free throw a few seconds later made it 54-51 with 53 ticks left.With the Bears being forced to foul, the Panthers responded impeccably with Royce Brathwaite and Joe Wiggins going 8-8 from the foul line."Free throws for us were horrendous," Pleasant Valley head coach Ken Piontkowski stated. "We shoot foul shots everyday at practice and this was exceptionally bad. We played hard for the whole game, but we just couldn't make any shots."With the loss, the Bears now have their backs against the wall in terms of district tournament qualification. However, Coach Piontkowski knows that every winning streak begins with a single win."I told the kids that I want next weekend to matter," Coach P admitted. "If we can win three in a row and have some pretty meaningful games at home next weekend, it would be nice. So it's one at a time, starting tomorrow."For the game, the Bears' Robinson and Panthers' Royce Brathwaite both poured in 22 points. Nyiem Nevarez and Marquis Brown both scored nine, with Brown snaring 15 boards.The Bears turned the ball over 20 times, with West committing 17 miscues of their own.The Panthers posted a 64-53 JV win despite 14 points from the Bears' Lucas Schaffner.POCONO MOUNTAIN WESTWiggins 1-1-2-3, Archer 0-0-0-0, Cooper 3-0-0-6, Brathwaite 4-11-12-22, Howard 0-0-0-0, Simon 0-0-0-0, J. Wiggins 3-10-11-17, Singh 4-2-3-11, Field 0-0-2-0, Hardy 1-0-0-3. TOTALS: 16-24-31-62.PLEASANT VALLEYBrown 4-0-6-9, Mikulski 0-0-0-0, Nevarez 3-1-2-9, Robinson 6-4-7-22, Hosier 1-1-5-3, Deegan 0-1-4-1, Pazienza 1-2-2-4, Sharpe 0-3-4-3, Neubert 1-1-2-3. TOTALS: 16-13-32-54.PoM West 13 19 13 17 - 62Pleasant Valley 8 12 11 23 - 54Three pointers: PMW - Brathwaite 3, J. Wiggins 1, Singh 1, Hardy 1; PV - Robinson 6, Nevarez 2, Brown 1.